


The Woman in the Mirror

by brokenmimir



Series: Swan Queen Week Winter 2015 [6]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Swan Queen Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-30
Updated: 2015-01-30
Packaged: 2018-03-09 17:13:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3257900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokenmimir/pseuds/brokenmimir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SQWeek 2015, Day 6: No Curse/Alternate Curse<br/>When Rumpelstiltskin finds an alternate means to his end, he decides to deal with Regina so that she can't cast the Dark Curse and follow him to the Land Without Magic.  Only True Love can save her, but she could never find love while imprisoned in Snow's castle... right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Woman in the Mirror

“You foul little imp!” Regina raved, slamming her fists against the glass. “How could you do this to me!”

“Now, now, dearie,” Rumpelstiltskin said. “Sometimes to make an omelet you have to break a few eggs. And sometimes to reach a realm without magic you have to break a few sorceresses. Unless, of course, you manage to find one of these.”

Regina stared blankly at the crystalline bean Rumpelstiltskin held up. “What the hell is that?”

“Just what I’ve always wanted,” he answered, “So I don’t need you anymore.”

“Need me?” Regina asked.

“Yes, yes,” Rumpelstiltskin said. “There was this whole thing with finding the most powerful magic user I could, destroying every bit of goodness inside of them until they don’t even know which way is up, and then tricking them into casting a nice little dark curse for me. But this? This is so much easier. Have a good eternity in your new prison, dearie. I don’t need you coming after me.”

“Get back here!” Regina screamed. “Get back here, now!”

He left, and Regina began to pace back and forth in the tiny space allotted to her. Despite appearing to be an endless white void, she could only move a few feet in any direction. No matter what, she couldn’t get away from the glass wall of her cell.

It was almost an hour later when they appeared. Snow White, heavily pregnant, with a smug look on her face, with her half-wit prince beside her. “She’s really here.”

“You,” Regina snarled.

“Yes, me,” Snow said, lifting her chin. “I tried to give you so many chances, but you spurned them all. Now you’re trapped in this mirror, and you won’t be getting out again. Only an act of true love could free you, and we both know that you aren’t capable of giving or receiving such a thing. Not anymore.”

“I will have my revenge someday, Snow,” Regina said. “I can be patient. But someday, I will find a way out of this cage, and when I do I will destroy your happiness.”

 

* * *

 

Despite her big words, nothing Regina did helped. Her magic didn’t work inside of the mirror, and she couldn’t go anywhere or do anything. The only positive thing was that her body seemed frozen in time. She didn’t need to eat, or sleep, nor did she age even a single day despite the passing years.

The biggest problems with her cage were the crushing loneliness, and the sense of helplessness like she hadn’t experienced since she was married to the king. The next biggest had thankfully tapered away with the passing years.

Snow White had visited her almost every day until her child was born, and then it became once a week. As time passed it became once a month, and then once a year. By the time she had spent almost nine years trapped in her unchanging prison she hadn’t seen a living soul for more than 20 months. Despite the strong front she put on she was desperately lonely, stuck only with her own bad memories and regrets.

Perhaps that was why she did what she did when she heard the sound. Perhaps not, as even at her darkest she had had a soft spot for children. Regardless, when she heard the sound of a child crying she called out without even thinking about it. “Hello? Who’s there?”

The crying stopped, and a moment later a little girl appeared in front of the mirror. She was wearing a fine if rumpled dress, and she had long, golden blonde hair. Her face was wet with tears, although she tried to put on a brave face despite her quivering lip as she faced the mirror. “Who’re you?” the girl asked.

“My name is Regina,” she answered. “Who might you be?”

“I’m Emma,” the girl said.

“What’s wrong, Emma?” Regina asked, her voice gentle.

“Mommy and daddy never have time for me,” Emma cried. “They just leave me with tutors. I haven’t even seen them for weeks.”

“I’m sorry,” Regina said, and she was surprised to realize that she meant it. “Don’t you have any friends?”

Emma shook her head. “No. No one will play with me. I barely even see my little brother anymore.”

“I see,” Regina said. “You know, I don’t have anyone, either.”

“You don’t?” Emma asked, eyes wide.

Regina shook her head. “No. I’m trapped in this mirror, and no one ever comes to see me, anymore. You’re the first person I’ve spoken to in at least a year.”

Emma’s eyes widened. “That’s a long time.”

Regina smiled sadly. “Yes, it is. So if you’d like, you can come here. I- I wouldn’t mind having someone to speak to.”

Emma blushed. “I’d like that too.”

 

* * *

 

Regina hadn’t expected much, but sure enough Emma visited regularly. Nearly every day she managed to give her tutors the slip and spend at least a few minutes with Regina. Sometimes she could get away for longer, and when she did she’d bring books to read aloud to her friend, or art supplies so that she could draw things to show her.

It hadn’t taken long for Regina to figure out that the girl was surely the child of her nemesis. While part of her was amused that perfect Snow White neglected her child, she mostly felt sorrow for the kind girl that actually wanted to spend time with her. While sometimes in the darkest hours she would plot ways to use Emma against Snow, whenever she saw her she couldn’t follow through on her plans. Instead, she simply served as a friend to the girl, and as the years passed she found herself closer to Emma than she had been to anyone since Daniel had died.

The first stumbling block came when Emma turned fourteen. Her tutors had finally decided that she was old enough to learn about the Evil Queen, and it hadn’t taken her long to figure out the truth. She almost hadn’t gone to see Regina that night, but finally she worked up the nerve to confront her.

Regina had smiled at Emma as she appeared, but it slowly faded as she saw the serious look on the teenager’s face. “What’s wrong, Emma?”

“You’re the Evil Queen,” Emma said.

Regina flinched. “So you found out.”

Emma stared at her. “Why?”

“Why?” Regina asked.

“Why are you doing this?” Emma asked. “Are you really my friend?”

Regina kept her face carefully neutral. “Sometimes, during the long hours you were gone I would think of ways to use you to hurt Snow. But I never did. I couldn’t bring myself to hurt a child.”

“I’m not a child anymore,” Emma said, crossing her arms and tilting her head back stubbornly.

“No,” Regina agreed. “But you also aren’t Snow’s daughter. Not to me. Not anymore.”

Emma bit her lip. “Why do you hate her? They said it’s because she was prettier than you.”

A dark look crossed Regina’s face. “And what do you think?”

Emma blushed. “I think you’re much prettier than her. And you aren’t that shallow.”

Regina relaxed, smiling slightly. “Let me assure you dear, my vendetta has nothing to do with looks.”

“But why do you hate her?” Emma asked.

 

* * *

 

Regina wouldn’t tell her at first. Emma burned with curiosity, and she made a point to try to weasel it out of her at every opportunity. She finally learned the truth on her sixteenth birthday, after begging for the information as her coming of age present. Afterwards she had wished more than anything that she could do something to help Regina feel better as she cried, but she couldn’t even touch her through the glass.

More years slowly passed, and Emma’s parents pressed her to accept a suitor and marry. None of the men interested her, however, and while some of the women she met were attractive, they didn’t hold her heart. Only one person did, and she was her parent’s mortal enemy trapped in a glass prison.

Regina had been slow to acknowledge her own feelings for Emma. Watching her grow up, the thought of her romantically had been repulsive, but the shift in their relationship caused by acknowledging the truth of her past had changed the way she looked at the girl. Emma had tried to comfort her about Daniel, and afterwards she couldn’t help but acknowledge how mature the little girl had become. And how beautiful.

It was late in the evening when Emma arrived wearing an elaborate ball gown which made her even more stunningly attractive. It took a moment for Regina to find words once she’d seen her. “Emma.”

“Hey,” Emma said, beaming at her. “I’m so glad to get away to see you.”

“Not enjoying your ball?” Regina asked with a raised eyebrow.

Emma groaned. “It’s terrible. They just keep sticking me with these horribly stuck up princes. I’d rather cut off my own hands than dance with them anymore.”

Regina chuckled. “Yes, well, at least they haven’t tried arranging any marriages for you.”

Emma shuddered. “Thankfully not. They just think if they keep throwing noble boys at me over and over again I’ll magically ‘fall in twoo wuv’ with one of them.”

“What is going on here!” Snow shouted.

Both women turned to face her, surprise on their faces. “Mother...”

“Don’t you mother me,” Snow snarled. “Why are you here!”

“She’s just having a conversation with me, Snow,” Regina drawled.

“Shut up,” Snow said. “If I wanted to hear from you I would visit here. Which I don’t.”

“Well, I want to hear from her,” Emma said.

“You’re supposed to be at the ball meeting your own Prince Charming,” Snow said. “Why would you come here?”

“Because I’d rather be here any day than at some stupid ball,” Emma answered.

Snow’s face darkened. “How long has this been going on.”

“More than a decade,” Emma said, crossing her arms proudly.

“What!” Snow shouted. “Do you know who that is?”

“Of course,” Emma said. “You think we haven’t talked when I’ve been coming here every day for that many years?”

“Every day...” Snow gasped, before whirling to face the mirror. “You! What have you done to my daughter?”

“Only what you haven’t since she was a baby, Snow,” Regina said with a nasty smile. “Pay attention to her.”

Emma glared at Regina. “That isn’t helping.”

Regina shrugged shamelessly while Snow turned to face Emma. “You are coming back to the party, and you are never going to speak with _her_ again.”

“What!” Emma shouted. “No! You can’t keep me from her!”

“Yes I can,” Snow said. “I am the queen. I am going to put the mirror somewhere where no one will ever find it, and you are going to find a prince to marry. You have been turning down suitors for years and I am running out of patience. If you don’t find someone to marry soon I will find someone for you.”

Tears filled Emma’s eyes. “No, please, you can’t do that...”

“Very gracious of you, Snow,” Regina said. “Find someone for her? You mean an arranged marriage. Some supporter of 'true love'.”

“Shut up,” Snow said. “You don’t know anything about love.”

“Yes she does!” Emma shouted. “Probably more than you. It wasn’t her fault you couldn’t stay out of her business and got her love killed!”

Snow turned even paler at those words, before flushing bright red. “You are returning to the ball right now.”

“No,” Emma said. “You want me to fall in love? Well, I already have. I love Regina!”

“What?” Regina whispered, shock and hope filling her heart.

“What!?!?” Snow screeched, horror and dismay filling hers.

Emma ran up to the mirror. “Regina, I know you probably still think of me as a silly little girl, but I fell for you years ago. I love you. I know we can’t truly be together, but you are the only one I love.”

“Emma, I... I love you too,” Regina said, her voice thick with emotion.

Emma smiled and leaned toward to mirror, pressing her lips to the glass. Regina repeated the action, and both were surprised a moment later when they felt warm lips pressing against their own. Suddenly Regina fell forward, landing on the warm, soft body of Emma. She pulled back and they stared at each other in shock for a long moment.

“The only way out of that mirror...” Regina started, trailing off, unable to finish the thought.

“True love,” Emma said, beaming up at her.

“Nooooooo!” Snow screamed. Neither even heard her wail as they shared their second kiss.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Swan Queen Week, Day 6, Alternate or No Curse. Kind of No Curse (out of Regina, anyway), kind of Alternate Curse (Rumpel did it). I don’t know why I’m always so mean to Snow White, but in my defense, it’s fun to kick her around.


End file.
